selvaraja somiah’s twisted thoughts

Me, just an ordinary Penangite who spent a good part of my learning life in North Borneo and Kathmandu. I’m a geologist turned freelance writer who’s joining the blog sphere now. What I post are my general views, my ramblings, and opinions of my thoughts of what is happening in my country. You are welcome to write your comments, but seditious and racial remarks will be deleted. I am no big writer but will try my best to provide my thoughts with my simple English. I welcome suggestions and opinions on my blog so that it can be improved further for the benefit of all.

A Mother Dog Nurses Red Pandas At China Zoo

Two red pandas also known as lesser pandas, who were abandoned by their mother shortly after birth at a north China zoo are now healthy and content, thanks to their competent wet nurse: a mother dog.

The baby pandas were born at Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi Province on June 25.

Their mother, the first red panda bred at the zoo, was taken in from a nature reserve in the northwestern Shaanxi Province at the end of April. No one knew she was pregnant. Her plump body and bushy hair disguised her protruding belly until the babies were born.

After the panda gave birth in its pen, in broad daylight and in front of a huge crowd of visitors, it abruptly turned its back on the babies and refused to nurse them. The zoo authorities hurriedly went about to find a wet nurse a mother dog which had given birth three days before the mother panda.

The mother dog was good-natured and has sufficient milk and the baby bears seem to like it.

Compared with the baby pandas that stayed with the mother dog every day, the puppy was more like an orphan.

The mother dog thinks the two bears are its own babies and refuses to nurse its own pup.

At three weeks old, the baby pandas are more than 20 cm long, “twice their birth length”. “They move around a bit but their eyes are still not open.” Lesser pandas are small, raccoon-like mammals that feed on bamboo and are native to the Himalayas. They are also known as “red pandas” because they have reddish brown fur on the body.

The average life expectancy of lesser pandas is about 13 years, and they reach adulthood at two years old.

The species is under special protection in China, though they are less known than giant pandas. They do not adapt easily to the environment. Official statistics indicate China’s lesser panda population has dropped by 40 percent since the 1950s because of human expansion into their natural habitats.